Picture this: you’re wrapping up a successful U.S. tour and getting ready to relax with family when the phone suddenly rings. You answer the call, and your manager hints at your next feat: Coachella 2025. That’s exactly what happened to Junior H, the sierreño “Sad Boyz” hitmaker taking música mexicana to one of the music festival’s main stages. Ahead of his Coachella debut, we spoke to Junior H about how he’s preparing for his performance, why growing his fanbase is important, and what he’s planning to conquer next.
Despite Junior H’s manager teasing a possible Coachella slot, it was not until the beginning of this year that he officially confirmed his performance with the música mexicana star. “Since then, I was already preparing myself mentally to get on this stage,” Junior H recalls over a Zoom call. “Thanks to the people and everyone that allowed me to be [at Coachella] with great artists that I also admire… [I’m] very happy, more than anything.”
The opportunity is exciting for many Latine artists and fans who have been waiting for this moment since Coachella’s inception in 1999. Since then, the shine on música mexicana has been slowly brewing — even if on the back burner. In 2019, Los Tucanes de Tijuana marked the first-ever Regional Mexican act to perform at the festival, a whole 10 years after its inception. Fast forward to 2023, Becky G’s música mexicana bit featuring Marca MP, Jesús “JOP” Ortiz Paz, Grupo Frontera, and Peso Pluma gave a glimpse of who would be taking over Billboard charts in the following years. That same year, Bad Bunny shared his headlining slot with Grupo Frontera, putting cumbias norteñas on the main stage. Peso even returned to Indio’s festival grounds the following year, bringing Junior H as a special guest to perform their hit joint track “El Azul,” which gave him a taste of the main stage.
In just a year, Junior H went from being a guest star to one of the biggest Latine names on this year’s Coachella lineup. “It was a nice gesture, since [Peso Pluma] was one of the first ones who went, and he invited me to sing,” the 24-year-old says about the experience. Now going as a main artist himself, Junior H says it’s a “source of pride.” “It feels very nice to be there representing Mexico and all of música mexicana,” he adds.
His performance is monumental because, to many Mexican fans, Junior H is their Bad Bunny. The Guanajuato native conquered his música mexicana audience thanks to mastering his collaboration formula with similar artists like Gabito Ballesteros and La Doble P, similar to how Benito did in reggaeton with the help of his colleagues like J Balvin and Arcángel. And just like Benito, he’s taking note of what his listeners enjoy and elevating it to reach new audiences. The usual curation of his setlists ranges from classic banda covers and hard-hitting corridos tumbados to emotional sierreño croons to satisfy música mexicana enthusiasts. But for Coachella, he’s adding something different in the hope of reaching new ears.
Though the “BIPOLAR” singer is nervous about reaching this milestone, he recognizes that it’s a huge opportunity to gain new fans — the endgame of his musical efforts. At his official Coachella debut, he will be performing for all types of curious spectators. Yes, he’s known for Regional Mexican music thanks to his hit albums like his $ad Boyz 4 Life saga, but he’s also aware that his previous trap projects, such as CONTINGENTE (2022), ushered in new fans in the last couple of years. “People, it seems, also missed that kind of style,” he notes about his trap project. “A lot of people discovered me for the Regional Mexican style, but I also have a lot of people from Latin America who only knew me [because of my] trap. Totally different people – new people – who found me from that [trap] side. So, I think it would be great to give them a little bit of everything at Coachella.”
Some of his recent collaborations reflect that knack for diversifying his sound. He’s explored trap and reggaeton on “MAL DE AMORES” with Myke Towers and “PICARDÍA” with Rauw Alejandro. But even more recently, he traversed uncharted territory: bilingual hip-hop with Shoreline Mafia’s OhGeesy on “Novio #2.” On this track, he sang in English for the first time — which he hopes isn’t the last opportunity now that he feels more comfortable with the language. These cross-genre collaborations have garnered thousands of streaming numbers across platforms, which is something Junior H keeps his eyes on.
Recently, Junior H was named one of the top Mexican artists via Spotify’s monthly listeners. He boasts over 26 million monthly listeners and over 18.2 billion plays. When asked whether numbers matter to him, he candidly says yes, alluding that he’s cognizant of his growth and stardom. “Since I started, I always had the notion that I had to constantly be… Well, we all want to grow, to take the number to the top, to the most impossible,” he says. “Yes, I pay a lot of attention to it. Yes, it is very important. I try not to be so much like that because I don’t want to depend on a number either.”
For all artists, our greatest desire is always to be at the top of the best… I think you have to have self-awareness as an artist but not let a number eat you up too much.
Music, at the end of the day, is a business. But more than anything else, Junior H has a love for his craft. “It’s always been about consistently working, putting out good music, and enjoying it, especially,” he says. “We’re not competing or anything like that. We’re just living day by day, doing what we love.”
“For all artists, our greatest desire is always to be at the top of the best… I think you have to have self-awareness as an artist but not let a number eat you up too much. But as I said, of course, it’s important.” He goes on to say that he’s motivated by seeing his previous album — released over two years ago — still on top of Mexican charts, calling it the “fruits of his labor.”
As he gears up for his upcoming Sunday performances (Apr. 13 and 20) at Coachella — just before his 25th birthday on Apr. 23 — he’s already thinking about what he wants to conquer next. “Our goal will always be to reach more ears, to win over more people. But my goal for the next few years is to reach and win over older people, which is a little bit the most difficult audience we have because they are people who have never listened to this kind of music and, believe it or not, little by little, people are accepting our music, and that is the most beautiful thing.”
Though he didn’t share more insight into how he will approach his mission, he says there’s a lot of music in store for fans. “There are still a lot of surprises up our sleeve that we are keeping secret for our fans,” he teases. “They are not expecting it; they are totally different projects. But we are very impatient for them to hear the new stuff, and we are very happy.”
